Golf ball cleaner



March 23, 1954 s. ALLEN GOLF BALL CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 15, 1947 INVENTOR. Loads JAZlezz BY Jim i.

March 23, 1954 L. s. ALLEN GOLF BALL CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 15, 1947 INVENTOR. I 011715 45 A llerz M Patented Mar. 23, 1954 GOL BAP EANER vil dvl isf Siilklltn, Alexandriava. Apphcation ri 15,1947, s ame. 7414597. 7 I l fllai n. (Cl. ?.2 1

This invention relates generallyto devices for cleaning golf balls and, more particularly, to such a device which is constructed andadapted to be mounted on a golf club bag whereby it may be carried with the player for use at any time.

Portable golf ball cleaners have heretofore been proposed and various devices of this type are known. None of these, however, hascombined the desirable features of lightness of weight and ease of operation with the good cleaning and polishing action of the so-called fixed ball cleaners which are usually permanently located at the tee. The provision of a portable cleaning device embodying the combination of 'these desirable features has therefore been one ,of the principal objects of this invention. Anotherobjct of the invention has been to. provide a portable, ball cleaner having moving cleaning means, together with other means for positively holding the ball. against movement with the cleaning means while the same is being, operated. A still furtherobject of the invention has been to provideaball cleaner including a sponge for transferring water tothe ball while it is being cleaned and including also a reservoir for water or other cleaning fluid which may bevusedi-to. wet the sponge whereby the cleaning device may be used for relatively loner p r ods of time withoutthe necessity of periodically wetting the sponge at some fixed source of water or cleaning fluid, A still fur ther object of the invention has been to provide a device of the described type Whi Ch iS susceptible of cheap and easy manufacture, is light in weight: andv simple in operation, and may; be manufactured from attractive and readily-available ma: terials such as the synthetic plastics.

Other objects and'features'of' novelty of the invention will be madeapparentbythe following description and the annexed drawings which, it will be understood, are. only illustrativeiof the invention and impose no limitations'thereon not imposed by the appended claim,

Referring to the drawingssin which similar reference numerals refer to like parts,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a form of golf ball cleaning device according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modified form of the invention. and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view, partly in section, of another, preferred form of the invention.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, I have disclosed, as one embodiment of the invention, a golf ball cleaning device adapted to be attached to a their one ends to the cylindrical tend radiallyinwardly therefrom, forming arotatableannularring of bristles. Also within the golf club bag 2 whereby it maybe carried with the playerat alltimes. This device comprises a body member itatone endjbf, whi h? is nected an L-shaped armB, the longer leg .of,

i which extends in spaced parallel relation ,tojthe straight end wall a of the body, part, forming a recess within which the uppenedge of thea] nular wall of a golf bagmay be inserted. A' screw I0 is threaded through the arm t in the. direction of the body 4 and may 'be turned to clampfthe cleaning device firmly to'theggolfjbag. Aring 3 is preferably integrally atta flied tofthe body and provides a means for attaching a'ragor tow el to the ball cleaner. The bodymembertdis with a cylindrical opening '20 ex therethrough and within thisflo rotatably jourhaled' a .jcup haped, memeeecz having a cylindrical wall 2 aridlalb'o other end being open; The outer surface'ofthe';

, is teppjd as at 28 to inter-enea e"w1thj anijlnwardlyeexe cylindrical wall 24 of this cleaning c p tending flange 30 on the wall of the open ing .20 in order tolpr event remeval of the edpe shaped member from the opening 20 in one ,direc tion- A aining ring .32 may'be'nositioned with in the opening'20 above the cylindrical wall I24. in order to prevent removal,, of the]cup-shaped member in the other direction. operating handle 34 is eccentricallylconnected to the bottom 26 and extends outwardly 'thferefromtofpro,

vide a means of rotating thecle'anihg cup. With in the cl anin cup thesurfaceh the cylindrical.

wall 24 is substantiallyfcoyeredby' bilishmeans,

such as the bristles 40, whidh afeattachedlat cleaning cup and substantially covering the bottomv wall thereof is a sponge member .42, which when theflsponge .is wetted.

In theu'se and operationof the described device, a golf ball A is inserted into the cleaning cup in the manner shown in Fig. 2 and is pressed against the sponge 42 which is in the bottom of the cup. In this position the bristles 40 will tightly engage the outer surface of the ball and if the cleaning cup is now rotated by manipulation of the handle 34, while the ball is held from rotation, the bristles will rub the outer surface of the ball and clean the same. Pressure of the ball against the sponge will cause water or cleaning fluid therefrom to flow over the outer surface item 26,, the

wall 24 andex 3 of the ball to assist the cleaning action of the bristles. By rotating the ball to various positions within the cup, the entire outer surface thereof may be cleaned.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings there is disclosed a modified form of the invention in which the ball is held within the cup by mechanical means and the cup is completely closed while the cleaning operation is being performed. This embodiment of the invention is identical in structure with that of Figs. 1 and 2 but in addition is provided with a cover 50 pivoted to the body 4 of the cleaning device by hinge 52. The cover 50 is of such size and shape that it completely covers the open end of the cleaning cup when in its closed position. At a part of the cover opposite the hinge 52 there is provided a latch means 54 whereby the cover may be retained in closed position. Attached to the inner surface of the cover there is a plurality, preferably 4, of spring fingers 56 which extend toward and into the interior of the cleaning cup in such a way that a ball may be positioned between them and will be tightly held by them when it is in cleaning position within the cleaning cup.

In the use and operation of the device of Fig. 3, the cover 60 is first opened and a golf ball is placed in position between the spring fingers 56-. The cover is now closed, forcing the ball into the cleaning cup and within the annular ring of bristles 40 and against the sponge 42. When the cleaning cup is rotated by the handle 34, the golf ball will be held against rotation by the spring fingers 56 and will be cleaned in the manner described hereinbefore.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention which is disclosed in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the body of the cleaning device is formed to provide a reservoir for water or other cleaning fluid,

which communicates with the cleaning cup adjacent the location of the sponge therein, whereby the sponge may be replenished from time to time with the cleaning fluid within the reservoir. As disclosed in Fig. 4, the body 4 of the cleaning device is provided with a preferably cylindrical chamber 60 which is closed at its outer end by a screw cap 62. A passage 66 leads from this chamber to the cleaning cup 22 at a part thereof adjacent the sponge 42. The wall 24 of the cleaning cup has an opening 66 therethrough which, in one position of the cleaning cup, registers with the passage 64 to permit the liquid within reservoir 60 to flow through the passage 64 and the opening 66 to the sponge 62 to moisten the same; In all other positions of the cleaning cup, the wall 26 thereof prevents the flow of liquid from the reservoir and passage 64 to the sponge.

On the outside of all cleaners according to the invention there may be provided an auxiliary cleaning pad for the purpose of removing stains which are not removable by the brush means 40. Such a pad is shown at 70 in Fig. 1 and comprises a fiat member fixed to an outer face of the body 4 4 and having cleaning means such as still? bristles extending outwardly therefrom and against which the ball may be rubbed.

While I have described and illustrated a number of embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, as well as modifications of those disclosed, may be made without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A portable golf ball cleaning device comprising a body of such size and weight that it is adapted to be supported on a golf bag and having a generally cylindrical opening entirely therethrough, a cup-shaped member having a side wall rotatably journaled in said opening and having a bottom accessible through one end of the opening and an open end accessible through the other, cleaning means lining the interior of the bottom and side wall of the cup-shaped member and forming a ball-receiving recess slightly less in diameter than a golf ball into which a golf ball is adapted to be forced and within which it may be held fixed during the cleaning operation, the said body having a chamber formed therein which is spaced from the opening ex tending therethrough and which has a stopper-ed exterioropening and is adapted to contain a cleaning liquid, said body also having a passage therethrough communicating said chamber to said cylindrical opening, the said cup-shaped member having an opening in the side wall thereof which is positioned to periodically register with said passage during rotation of the cupshaped member to cause cleaning liquid to flow from the chamber to the interior of the cupshaped member, and a handle attached to the bottom of the cup-shaped device and extending exteriorly of the body for rotating the cupshaped member.

LQUIS S. ALLEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 928,832 Woodward July 20, 1909 1,362,822 Rude Dec. 21, 1920 1,366,306 Wick Jan. 18, 1921 1,583,470 Kapp May 4, 1926 1,768,229 Blakemo're June 24, 1930 1,797,000 Laing Mar. 17, 1931 1,862,437 Signorini June 7, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 8,283 Great Britain of 1896 12,853 Great Britain of 1908 201,266 Great Britain Aug. 2, 1923 416,643 Great Britain Sept. 18, 1934 

